Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 620,085 Shares of Vaxcyte, Inc. $PCVX

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Vaxcyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCVX) by 113.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,164,813 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 620,085 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Vaxcyte were worth $67,687,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCVX. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in shares of Vaxcyte by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 13,387,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $617,731,000 after purchasing an additional 282,985 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 2.7% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,320,453 shares of the company’s stock worth $443,783,000 after buying an additional 323,368 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 35.9% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,296,333 shares of the company’s stock worth $521,213,000 after buying an additional 2,981,038 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,966,310 shares of the company’s stock worth $275,286,000 after buying an additional 933,539 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,980,005 shares of the company’s stock worth $229,777,000 after buying an additional 194,116 shares in the last quarter. 96.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Vaxcyte Price Performance

Vaxcyte stock opened at $53.68 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $52.68 and its 200-day moving average is $52.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a PE ratio of -7.80 and a beta of 1.24. Vaxcyte, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $29.08 and a fifty-two week high of $65.00.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($2.30) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.74) by ($0.56). During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.04) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Vaxcyte, Inc. will post -7.91 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

PCVX has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Vaxcyte from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Andrew Guggenhime sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.00, for a total transaction of $530,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 104,395 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,532,935. The trade was a 8.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Grant Pickering sold 22,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.50, for a total value of $1,179,202.50. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 474,703 shares in the company, valued at $24,921,907.50. The trade was a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,961 shares of company stock valued at $2,233,490. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Vaxcyte Profile

Vaxcyte, Inc (NASDAQ: PCVX) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing a new generation of preventive vaccines aimed at combating serious bacterial diseases. Headquartered in San Carlos, California, Vaxcyte leverages proprietary conjugation technologies to design and manufacture multivalent vaccines targeting pathogens for which there remain significant unmet medical needs. The company’s platform is intended to streamline the production of conjugate vaccines by improving antigen presentation and broadening strain coverage compared with conventional approaches.

Vaxcyte’s lead candidate, VAX-24, is a 24-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine designed to protect against 24 serotypes of Streptococcus pneumoniae.